Fuel Report: Prices Continue Slow Creep Upward

The cost to fuel up has yet to abate locally as the area’s average gas price registers at $4.034 a gallon, an increase of more than 2 cents from last Monday, according to AAA Fuel Price Finder.

Last month, fuel prices averaged $3.746 a gallon, representing a 9 percent increase or nearly 29 cents less a gallon than today. One year ago, prices averaged $3.602 a gallon or 43 cents less.

The average cost to fuel a vehicle with a 15 gallon tank now runs $60.51 compared to $54.04 at the same time last year. Last week at this time the cost was 36 cents less. Last month, the same car was more than $4 less to top off.

At the Sunoco station on the northeast corner of Greenfield and 10 Mile Road in neighboring Oak Park, driver Latisha Farrell complained aloud of the noticeable increase in prices over the course of the last year, and said she has made efforts to consolidate some stops to conserve gas.

“I have definitely changed the way I run errands,” Farrell said. “I make sure that I only stop at places that are on my route for the day and if I need to run across town, I wait until I have more than one thing to do.”

The Southfield resident, who works in Warren, recently took her compact sedan into a service station to have the air pressure on her tires checked, she mentioned, after hearing how unbalanced tires can increase fuel consumption.

“I heard a report that if your tires’ air pressure is uneven, that could make you burn more gas,” she said. “Sure enough, two of my tires were lower than they should have been; hopefully I’ll see the difference.”

Berkley-Huntington Woods fuel price averages, as reported by Gassbuddy.com:

• $3.98: , 2576 Coolidge and Catalpa Dr., Berkley
• $3.99: , 3372 Coolidge Hwy and 12 Mile Rd., Berkley 
• $4.09: , 3427 12 Mile Rd. and Buckingham, Berkley 
• $4.09: BP, 26001 Woodward Ave. and Lincoln, Huntington Woods; 

For a graph showing the 30-day average price-per-gallon in Michigan compared with the nation as a whole, visit MichiganGasPrices.com.

More on local gas prices and traffic at berkley.patch.com/traffic.